


A moment of reprieve

by Madame_Xela



Category: The Hobbit (2012), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bilbo feels smothered, Fluff, M/M, There is sass, Thorin doesn't know how to properly express his emotions, Thorin worries and is very over dramatic, Tree Climbing, ooc, so much sass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-11-28 22:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/679575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Xela/pseuds/Madame_Xela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo finally manages to slip away from the dwarfs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did a thing! And it's not angsty! What is this?

As a child, Bilbo enjoyed climbing trees. Tall trees, shorter trees, wide older trees, but not saplings (he had learned that one the hard way). He liked being up high. It made him feel…tall, like Mister Gandalf. From the top his favorite tree-the biggest in Hobbiton-he would swear to anyone who asked that he could see the whole Shire.

Eventually, he stopped climbing trees. It wasn’t proper for respectable hobbits.

But then again, neither was going off on an adventure with a wizard and thirteen dwarfs.

Up until the fight with Azog, Bilbo hadn’t given tree-climbing much thought. Gandalf had told them to climb and Bilbo had been tossed from one dwarf to the other until he dangled precariously from a branch. Well that wouldn’t do. With an arm secured around the branch, Bilbo swung himself (albeit a tad clumsily) up and climbed until he was a decent height.

From there it was all a blur. There was fighting, there was running, there was screaming, there was flying. Then they landed and there was _peace_. For the first time since running out of his comfy little hobbit hole Bilbo truly felt like one of the company.

It wouldn’t be until much later, in the home of Beorn, that Bilbo would think about trees.

*

Getting away from the group of dwarfs was easier said than done. Had he tried before the goblin incident he would have been far more successful. Now it seemed he had at least one dwarf by his side at all hours of the day. If it wasn’t Bofur telling him stories of his youth, it was Ori asking for stories of the Shire. If it wasn’t Dwalin trying to teach him how to properly use Sting (“It is not a letter opener, for the last time Mister Dwalin!”), it was Fíli and Kíli begging to be taught several games from the Shire that only children play.

Thorin seemed to be constantly glued to his side.

That in itself wasn’t too bad; Bilbo enjoyed spending time with the dwarf when the other wasn’t trying to burn him to cinders with his glare. They had held several conversations and had generally gotten to know each other. The problem was he never let Bilbo out of his sight, even when Bilbo had to bathe (his only moments away from the king was when he needed to relieve himself). They even slept near each other.

So yes, finding that one moment to himself made Bilbo happy. He could finally take a chance to _breathe_. Bless Balin and Gandalf and whatever problem they had that Thorin absolutely _had_ to help them with (“You too, Dwalin”). Bilbo had taken off and ran as fast as he could before another pair of dwarfs came for ‘hobbit-duty’.

His feet had brought him to a tree. It was extremely tall (like everything else) with thick branches and large leaves. Bilbo eyed the monstrosity for several minutes before he made his decision.

He started to climb.

And climb he did. Higher and higher and higher ever still until he lost sight of the ground between the branches and the leaves. Around half way up the tree (or at least, he hoped it was half way) he stopped climbing. His arms were still sore from practice with Dwalin and he wanted to be sure that they weren’t too sore for the climb down.

The sun poked through the leaves, warming his face and skin. This was nice. The scent of trees and the warmth of the sun…the branch he was on was particularly wide. Perhaps he could take a nap…

*

“ _Bilbo!_ ”

No, go away. Bilbo was quite comfortable at the moment and he was having a very nice dream about warm hugs and dark hair.

“ _BILBO_!!!”

That was definitely more than one voice. That didn’t make them any more welcome though.

“BILBOOOOO”

“WHERE ARE YOU MISTER BOGGINS?!”

‘ _Well, there was no more sleeping now_.’ He thought to himself. Sitting up, his back gave and uncomfortable twinge from sleeping on the wood. “What on earth could they want?” Only one way to find out: climb back down.

His decent was far slower than he would have liked, but he didn’t want to accidentally slip because he was still groggy.

 Some voices grew louder whilst others faded. Why were they looking for him?

What dear Bilbo hadn’t noticed since waking was that the sun had almost set. When he had first fallen asleep it had been before noon and now it was almost supper-time. His dear dwarf friends had been looking for him for hours.

“BILBO!” That voice sounded an awful lot like Fíli.

“Yes-yes, I’m coming!” He called back. The hobbit hadn’t expected anyone to hear him but suddenly the two young princes were calling for both him and their uncle.

“WE FOUND HIM…I THINK…” Kíli.

“BILBO, WHERE ARE YOU?!” Fíli.

Two branches to go and then a short jump…

“I’m…” One branch. “…right…” Jump. “Here!” He would have thrown his arms his arms in the air in some sort of mocking ‘here-I-am-you-morons’ pose, but two sets of arms clamped around him, pinning them to his sides. “Boys, what-”

“Bilbo we were so worried!”

“You’ve been gone almost all day! It’s dinner time now!”

“Uncle’s nearly gone mad trying to find you!”

“Wha-?”

“BILBO!” A third, deeper voice called. Another pair of arms wrapped around the trio and Bilbo found himself tightly pressed against the furs of Thorin’s coat. “Where were you? What happened? Are you alright?”

If he thought he was being smothered before, this was one hundred times worse.

“Will you please let me go!” He wriggled and fought as best as he could until he was able to arch his body back and give Thorin his best glare. “This is absolutely ridiculous! I’m fine as you can see, now let me go!”

It took a moment, but one by one his dwarfs ( _THE_ dwarfs!) released him. Fíli and Kíli looked rather put out.

“What were you doing up in the tree, Bilbo?” Kíli asked. The innocent question brought an unpleasant look to Thorin’s face.

“You were…up the tree?”

Bilbo glared. “Yes, though I don’t see how that’s any of your business!” The worry that Thorin had expressed slowly melted into anger. He glared right back at the hobbit, nostrils flaring. As if sensing the impending argument, the younger princes stepped back.

“Not my business?” Thorin repeated. “It most certainly is m business! We’ve been looking for you all day! No one knew where you were or if you were even alive!”

“Now you are just being overdramatic! I’m fine! I had a moment to myself for the first time since we’ve arrived here and I decided to do something that I actually enjoy doing-which is clearly too much to ask!” One of the three dwarfs let out a rather pathetic noise, Bilbo wasn’t sure who it was, nor did he care.

Turning on his heels, Bilbo stomped to Beorn’s house. Someone _had_ mentioned dinner after all.

*

That evening he had been left blissfully alone. He wasn’t ignored-oh no. Bofur, Ori, Beorn and the Durin brothers had talked to him throughout the meal, but it was the first time that Bilbo was actually allowed to pick his own food and feed himself (Fíli and Kíli had tried on more than one occasion to feed him when they thought that he wasn’t eating enough. Thorin had encouraged them. Bastard).

“Little Bunny should eat more.”

“I’m not overly hungry right now, Master Beorn.”

“But you haven’t eaten since breakfast, and you told us that hobbits like to eat seven times a day.” Fíli pointed out, bits of food flying out of his mouth as he spoke.

Bilbo shuddered at the lack of manners. “I said _respectable_ hobbits eat seven times a day. Going off on an adventure hardly makes for a respectable hobbit.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, we all think you are perfectly respectable Mister Baggins.” Ori said. Several others nodded in agreement; a few were too drunk and nodded because they had seen everyone else doing it. If the dwarf hadn’t been on the other side of the table Bilbo would have pulled him into a hug. Instead, he offered him a smile.

“Why thank you Ori!”

*

Thorin didn’t sleep by him that night.

Bilbo wasn’t sure if he was upset or not. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why-what is that Thorin?”
> 
> “This is a basket, Bilbo Baggins. But in this case it is a peace offering.”

For the next two days Bilbo would slip away and climb up the tree that he had dubbed ‘his’. Each day he climbed higher and higher until he was summoned by a dwarf.

_“Master Beorn would like a story Bilbo!”_

_“It’s time to practice lad!”_

_“Bilbo can you help us with this?”_

_“Excuse me Mister Bilbo! It’s time to eat!”_

He enjoyed the peace. Sometimes he took naps, sometimes he wrote down his adventures on the parchment the Master Beorn gave him-of course whatever story he had written down _must_ be told to Beorn. Other times he just sat and thought. He thought about his hobbit-hole, fighting dragons, his new friends, and yes, he even thought about Thorin. Quite a lot actually. From the blueness of his eyes to the fur that seemed to be everywhere but the Dwarf’s feet to the extreme attitude change, Thorin was constantly plaguing his thoughts. The dwarf had taken to ignoring Bilbo and whenever he looked at the hobbit he glared like Bilbo had just insulted his whole family.

Dwarfs.

It was on the third day that someone managed to actually climb up the tree to bother Bilbo.

“Burg- _Bilbo_ , are you awake?”

“I am now Thorin.” He answered; eyes still closed. There was huffing and groaning and cursing several feet beneath him. Bilbo snorted at the struggling dwarf. He didn’t particularly care what Thorin was doing, so long as he left him alone because Bilbo wanted to get back to his nap.

Of course Thorin had to ruin that for him.

The dwarf’s cursing had gotten progressively louder, not because he was getting any higher up the tree, but because Thorin could barely keep his balance. After a few choice words fell from Thorin’s lips, Bilbo (cautiously) peered over the branch and down to the dwarf.

“Thorin Oakenshield, what in the world are you doing?”

The dwarf glared. Good to see that that hadn’t changed. “I am attempting to climb this tree. What does it _look_ like?” Bilbo shrugged. There was no need for his friend to be rude, Bilbo was merely curious.

“I was under the impression that you didn’t like trees.” Actually, he was under the impression that all dwarfs didn’t like trees.

“I _don’t_ ” _But you do_.

Bilbo stopped himself from questioning why the dwarf was even bothering. He closed his eyes again, wanting to get a few more minutes of sleep. But oh no, Thorin couldn’t let him have that luxury.

“Bilbo, do-uh-you mind coming down here I-gah! Oh Mahal!-don’t think I can climb any higher.” The blond hobbit was sorely tempted to say no. Really, he just wanted to have a few minutes to himself. “ _Please_ ” Well…that was different. Thorin had yet to say the word once in throughout the whole journey (or if he had Bilbo hadn’t heard), Bilbo had idly wondered if he even had the word in his vocabulary. Apparently he did.

“Why-what is that Thorin?”

“This is a basket, Bilbo Baggins. But in this case it is a peace offering.” Curiosity peaked, Bilbo swung down from his branch to Thorin. The dwarf was pressed against the trunk of the tree with a wicker basket covered in a soft blanket (or maybe it was one of Beorn’s overly large towels...) in between his legs. He looked so out of place and uncomfortable, Bilbo had to cover his mouth to smother a laugh.

“A…peace offering?”

“Yes. You’re a hobbit-”

“-I should hope so.” Was said; the hobbit barely repressing a grin.

Thorin was not amused. “I’m trying to be serious, Bilbo.”

“Err…right, sorry.”

“Now, as I said before…you’re a hobbit and you hobbits like your food. And since its lunch time I would like to have lunch up here with you.” As he spoke, Thorin lifted the blanket to reveal salted meat, roasted potatoes, bread, a jar of honey and some kind of juice. The hobbit was touched. This was the last thing that he expected from his friend.

“Thorin I-”

“-I’m not finished. I would also…I would also like to apologize. It seems that in my attempt to express my gratitude and…well it seems that all I managed to do is upset you.” Here, the dwarf looked down into the basket. He took out two plates and dished out the food, giving Bilbo the larger share.

“Thorin…I wasn’t upset-okay I _was_ , but I’m not anymore. All I wanted was a little space. You know, let me eat what I want and let me go off for a few minutes without you thinking that something horrible has happened to me.” He gave that dwarf a pointed look. Thorin scowled and handed him his plate.

“It was more than a few minutes. It was all day!”

“Fair enough. The point is I’m not angry anymore so apology accepted. And thank you.” The last part was spoken so softly that Thorin almost hadn’t heard it.

“You are thanking me? For what?”

“Well for starters, lunch. And for making the climb up here even though you are clearly uncomfortable. Thank you for the apology, and for talking to me again. I had thought that you were angry with me. I mean with all of the glaring and with you ignoring me…I didn’t want you to shut me out like you did, you know. I just wanted a little time for myself.”

Wincing, Thorin reached out and grabbed one of the hobbit’s hands. “I know that now…I myself was upset and it…clouded my judgment.”

“Why were you upset?” Thorin chose not to answer. Instead he shoved a large chunk of bread into his mouth so he was unable to talk. Bilbo snorted. “Charming, Thorin.”

The dwarf sent him a smile, keeping his mouth closed to not offend his hobbit. Bilbo grinned back. When he was done chewing what was in his mouth, Thorin started talking again. “I truly am sorry that I hurt you so. I will not let it happen again.”

Bilbo wanted reprimand Thorin for making promises that he couldn’t keep, because Bilbo had no doubt that there would be more fights in the future. His (THE) dwarf was stubborn and one act of humility wasn’t going to change that. But the hobbit held his tongue. The two finished their meal in companionable silence. As they packed up the dirty plates, Bilbo thanked his friend again.

“Think nothing of it.”

“You know, you still haven’t answered my question. Why were you upset?” For as long as Bilbo had known him, Thorin had always seemed to be a majestic and (dare he say) scary dwarf. He had never seen his friend look so self-conscious and nervous. Thorin twisted the sleeves of his coat, lost in thought.

The hobbit resigned himself into thinking that he would not get an answer. If only he could climb back up to the higher branches to finish his nap. Perhaps Thorin could join him-on a different branch of course! Thorin wouldn’t want to sleep with a lowly hobbit and-

Oh…

All of his thoughts came to a standstill. Warm hands had grabbed his face and pulled him forward to meet firm lips. It was incredibly awkward; Bilbo’s body was leaning too far and his neck was craned at an odd angle, Thorin’s facial hair was tickling Bilbo’s nose, and the dwarf seemed to turn into a statue. But Bilbo would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it and he didn’t want any more. By the Valar he wanted more- _lots_ more.    

He pulled away, giving his dwarf a short kiss when his face dropped, to place the basket behind him and scoot closer to Thorin. The position was still odd, he had to hook his legs over Thorin’s to get comfortable, but it was worth it when he received the brightest smile from the dark haired dwarf (Oh that smile should be illegal!). Thick arms locked the hobbit in a loving embrace. The blond hobbit gave him a bright smile that rivaled the sun.

Bilbo wound his arms around Thorin’s neck, hands curling in dark hair, and pulled the dwarf’s head down to rest against his forehead.

“Did that answer your question, my halfling?”

“I’m quite sure I understood. You’re going to have to repeat that…several times.”

This was definitely better than taking a nap.

*

Several hours later, as the sky turned pink and the sun drooped low in the sky, Gandalf suggested that someone go after Bilbo. Fíli and Kíli were, unsurprisingly, the first to volunteer. They loved being the ones sent after Bilbo because when he wouldn’t come down they would throw stones up into the tree. They never aimed at the hobbit (Uncle would be furious and probably never forgive them) but at the trunk or a few lower branches. The noise would annoy their hobbit friend enough to make him get up and come down.

Fíli and Kíli were about to leave when the door opened and Bilbo walked into the house (damn, there goes their fun). Only he wasn’t alone. Uncle was walking side-by-side with him, an arm draped possessively over the hobbit’s shoulders. They were whispering to each other like love-struck young dwarrows.  

Twin grins split across the boys’ faces.

“Auntie and Uncle are back!” They cried. Arms outstretched, they draped themselves over Thorin and Bilbo. Poor Auntie almost tumbled under their weight. Had Uncle not been there, he would had fallen to the ground.

Their hobbit (because that what he was now. Theirs…well technically he was Uncle’s hobbit but Fíli and Kíli felt that that gave them some claim.) made an indignant sound stating that he was most definitely not their aunt and laughing isn’t helping, only encouraging them Thorin!

“But we already have an Uncle!”

“Yes and you can’t have more than one-”

“-Where in the world did that logic come from?!”

“And we really want an Auntie!”

“Just because you call me Auntie doesn’t make me a-”

“That wasn’t a no!” Before any more arguments could be made, they ran off. The inhabitants of Beorn’s house would look curiously at the cackling dwarrows, wondering what sort of mischief they had gotten into now.

Bilbo groaned. “They aren’t going to stop are they?” His response was a chuckle and being tugged into the dining room.  

*

That night, Thorin and Bilbo slept on Thorin’s bed. Legs tangled, arms curled around the other, come morning neither Fíli nor Kíli (who had gotten up early to get the _privilege_ of waking their Auntie and Uncle) were sure one ended and the other began. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left a comment! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


End file.
